EnVisioning CoRals: Embodying Coral Reef Inhabitants to Raise Awareness on Climate Changes Impacts on Remote Environments

Climate change has become a significant concern for humanity, and there is a need for innovative tools to increase awareness of this topic. The countries that contribute the most to climate change often do not suffer the consequences of their actions. Additionally, the effects of our actions are not immediately visible in the environment. These factors create a perceived distance between people's mental representations and the impact of climate change. Virtual Reality (VR) is a promising tool for raising awareness about climate change and promoting pro-environmental behavior. It allows users to explore hardly accessible environments and experience the long-term effects of pollution from a novel perspective.We developed an immersive VR experience that will enable users to explore a coral reef and experience the decay caused by rising sea temperatures over 60 years. To increase nature connectedness and make people more aware of the consequences of human actions, we integrated virtual embodiment into our experience, allowing users to embody one of three reef inhabitants, a coral, a hermit crab, and a turtle. We presented our experience at a dissemination event and collected preliminary data on usability and feedback on the level of users' embodiment. Although further studies are needed, our preliminary results are promising, as they indicate a high level of user engagement and a notable sense of embodiment in the virtual environment, suggesting that our application has the potential to be an effective tool for promoting awareness of climate change.